


A Hopeless Situation

by Unoriginal_Fangirl



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Adult Link (Legend of Zelda), Alternate Universe, Angst, Could Be Canon, Curse Breaking, Curses, Desperation, Gerudo Culture, Good Ganondorf, Homoeroticism, Hurt Link, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kingdom of Hyrule, Multi, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, basically this is what i came up with after botw 2 with dehydrated ganondorf, but nothings explicitly shippy, can be read as romantic or platonic, ganondorf is technically good but also not, guys i dont care, i mean the idea is a poly trio, i swear its not confusing, it plays thousands of years before botw, its hopeless lmao, its mostly angst, why isnt there a hopeless tag, yes theyre close in age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 08:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19719613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unoriginal_Fangirl/pseuds/Unoriginal_Fangirl
Summary: It had never been a question of if. They had known since they were all ten and playing in the gardens that someday they would have to grow up and fight each other.That doesn't mean they weren't going to try and stop the curse.Except they had done their research for twenty-five years and nothing except the retelling of the tale of the first Link had surfaced.





	A Hopeless Situation

**Author's Note:**

> This is something quick i wrote in which they have a relationship in the same way hannibal lecter & will graham do except less twisted, or crowley & aziraphale without the happy end
> 
> Because, spoiler alert, this fic isnt the start of a longer story with a happy end. I love it when characters try so desperately and still fail.
> 
> Also i wrote this for myself but i thought id upload it to make sure yall know im alive and maybe enjoy a vaguely poly fic
> 
> Also link & zelda are married?? Idk

"Has it ever occured to you that you should cut your hair?" the queen asked the hero as she ran her fingers through his blonde hair. By now it reached past his collarbone.

Link leaned into the touch. "Why should I? Ganondorf's is even longer and he's fine."

"Ganondorf isn't the queen's consort, dumbass. He's Gerudo. Different customs. And he's too tall for his hair to be pulled during battle," Zelda told him, tugging on his hair for emphasis.

Link turned his head. "Are you calling me short?"

Zelda laughed softly. "I'm calling you average Hylian height. Remember last time we went to Gerudo town?"

"They kicked me out."

"After that. Hylians are the shortest race of Hyrule."

"Then why is its queen Hylian?"

"I don't know. Ask my ancestor."

"Didn't they teach you that in your classes?"

Zelda stood up and brushed the grass and dirt off her dress. She would've gone out with her usual travelling outfit, but her maids had insisted that she wear the dress. She had an audience with a man from a land away from Hyrule, and she was supposed to look like a queen.

Link got to his feet and reached out to adjust the crown on Zelda's head and redo the braids in her hair. He put his own hair in a quick ponytail.

"Could you bring my research to Ganondorf? He asked me to look through the books in the royal library, and I found quite a lot on the legend of Hylia and Demise. I'll come to Gerudo Town when I'm finished here."

"Zel-"

"My cousin can watch the castle while we're gone, Link. It's fine. Go."

Link grabbed her hand and pressed a light kiss to her knuckles before he started walking towards the stables. He'd known her since they were children, a good thirty-five years ago. When they had been eight, Zelda had begged him not to bow.

He grabbed Epona from her stall and rode off into Castle Town, then to the field before the town and then towards the South West. On his way to the stables he'd picked up clothes to wear in the desert, and his less ceremonial weapons.

It took a bit to get to Gerudo Town, especially since Epona refused to go into the Desert.

When he arrived, the sun was barely visible over the mountains in the distance.

He very clearly remembered being sixteen and going to Gerudo Town for the first time. He'd spent three days waiting by the oasis until he had been allowed entrance.

This time it took less long, but still longer than it would have if he had had Zelda with him or if a familiar Gerudo was guard.

Clearly, the ones on guard duty were new enough to not know the queen's consort. "No voe inside," the one on the left told him.

Link groaned. "I'm here on behalf of Queen Zelda. It's urgent," he told the women, but they wouldn't bend.

"No voe inside."

"Just ask any experienced guard, hell, go to Ganondorf. Tell them it's _Link._ The tiny blond guy from Hyrule who _has been inside too often."_

The woman on the right poked him with her spear, lightly enough not to pierce his bare skin. "Leave, voe."

"Alright then, vai," Link murmured. He walked to the left and went around to the back to climb inside. He'd done it before. Terrified the Gerudo who weren't aware that the queen's consort was good at climbing and intensely spiteful toward pretty much everyone who opposed him in any way.

Link dropped down into the sandpit next to the palace and entered through the side door with a small grin on his lips when the women standing guard turned around and yelled obscenities at him in a language he barely knew. "You could've told us you had new guards, you know? Would've saved me the trouble," he told the king.

Ganondorf chuckled. "And here I was thinking you enjoyed sneaking around and entering my palace without announcing your presence."

"Oh, haha. I played Sheikah _once_ and suddenly everyone thinks I'm one of them. I'm not! And those girls in the front will absolutely kill me the second they realize I'm inside. One of them _poked_ me with her _spear."_

Ganondorf's golden eyes raked over Link's skin. "I'm afraid that, without proof, that will just be filed as a false accusation."

"Yes, yes, you're hilarious," Link said under his breath, earning him a grin from the Gerudo king.

Ganondorf shifted in his throne. "What brings you here, Link?"

"Zelda went through the books, like you asked, and she told me to bring these to you." Link pulled a stack of paper from his bag and handed it to Ganondorf. "It's apparently everything she found on the legend. Nothing on how to break the curse, though."

Ganondorf frowned. "Nothing?"

"It's just the same retelling of the story. Demise nearly kills Hylia, Hylia becomes the first Zelda, the first _me_ kills Demise, Demise curses us for eternity to live in the cycle. Who'd have thought that breaking a demon king's curse would be difficult?" Link said.

"Everything can come to an end, Link. You just need patience," Ganondorf chided, but it was clear he was just as much out of patience as the hero. It was only a matter of time before the curse set in. They were luckier than most incarnations of the three, as they had grown into adulthood, but who knew when that luck would run out?

"We don't have time to be patient. We've been looking into this for twenty-five years and all we have are stupid books telling us nothing but the tale, over and over again, mocking us! It's _useless,_ Ganondorf, can't you see?"

The Gerudo king placed his hand on Link's shoulder. "If we fail, the next incarnations can continue the research."

"The next incarnations will probably see Zelda and I as fourteen year old children. It's how it has been for centuries past and it's as it will be for centuries still to come. Not even Hylia could break the curse."

"Link. Enough. We have a chance to at least get closer to breaking the cycle. We would be fools not to take it. To not at least _try."_

"I don't want it to end in ruin," Link murmured.

"Neither do I."


End file.
